I am very disheartened to read Republican leaders like J. T. Wilcox and Andrew Barkis blame Gov. Jay Inslee for the recent closure of the passes between Western and Eastern Washington. The Jan. 19 article “Washington's Snow Response Snowballs Into an Ideological Storm” published in The Chronicle by David Kroman from The Seattle Times clearly shows Republicans using the snow and COVID-19 to attack the governor and vaccine mandates.
There is an employment shortage for a variety of reasons and we experienced an unusually heavy snowfall. As stated in the article, “The amount of snow and resulting avalanche danger drove the pass closures and kept road crews from working in several areas because it simply wasn't safe for crews to be there.”
No matter how you feel about the vaccine mandate, you are better off in Washington State than in Florida, under Republican leadership, where the COVID numbers for sick and dead are much higher. I live in the 2nd Legislative district and am very disappointed with the leadership of Wilcox and Barkis. Using the snow and COVID as a cudgel for Inslee is not productive and is not honorable.
Madeline Bishop
Olympia
